Ore-separatob



H, P. RUSS.

Spiral Ama'lgamator and Separator.

' Patented June 22, 1858.

'mator and separator.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

H. P. RUSS, OF RUSSVILLE, CALIFORNIA.

ORE-SEPARA'IOR.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,666, dated June 22, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HORACE P. Ross, of Russville, in the county ofSacramento and State of California, have invented, made, and applied touse certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Separating orAmalgamating Metals, which I term Russs Spiral Amalgamator andSeparator, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the construction and operation of the same,reference being had to the annexed drawing, making part of thisspecification, wherein Figure 1, is a plan of my said amalga- Fig. 2, isa side View of one of the inclined separating plates, and Fig. 3, is aside view of four of said plates as set together ready for use.

Similar marks of reference indicate the same parts.

In several gold washers or amalgamators that have heretofore been madeuse of, the sand is placed on an incline, over which a stream of wateris caused to flow, and the particles of metal are retained and lodge increvices or cavities of various characters in said incline. Inthis'instance the rush of water is in one general direction, and doesnot produce any whirl or eddy to cause the gold to deposit and the sandto pass away, beside this the water attains an accelerated velocitywhich is injurious in effecting a perfect separation. Separators havealso been formed similar to a circular stair way, but in this case thedescent of the water, if allowed to flow rapidly over the same, wouldwash away both the metallic as well as the earthy particles from theflat steps forming the surface of this separator,

The nature of my said invention consists in the use of spiral orcircular inclined plates set together in a screw form in such a mannerthat the sand and water passes successively from one, down onto thenext, and in running down and around this inclined and circular plateproduces an eddy or whirl in each of the cavities or crevices that areleft on the surface of said plate, whereby the sand or ore is washedaway while the metal remains in said crevices, either in the form ofdust or fine particles, or becomes amalgamated with quick-silver placedin the bottom of said cavities; and the water flowing in a screw formhas not the opportunity of increasing its velocity, as would be the caseon a straight inclined plane, and the water passing from one plate ontothe next, any acceleration of the velocity is effectually prevented, andby revolving a series of these plates, as they stand one above theother, on a center shaft, in either direction, the speed of the watercan be accelerated or retarded.

In the drawing a, is a circular plate which is formed as a gradualincline; the surface of said plate would be described by the revolutionof a straight line around an axis, descending in its revolution from thepoint- 1, to the point 2, and around this plate a rim or edge 5, isformed of the necessary height to prevent the overflow of water, and thecenter of said plate is formed with another rim 0, around the centeropening d, through which opening a shaft is to pass for connecting theplates together, or if said shaft be dispensed with, a circularprojection in the center of said plate, may take the place of saidshaft. The part 1, of the plate a, being above the part 2, leaves anopening or mouth from which the water passes off one plate onto the onenext below as seen in Fig. 3, and in so doing its accelerated velocityis checked, at the same time the water in traveling over the surface ofthe plate a, produces a whirl or eddy in each of the cavities formed inthe surface of said plate at. These cavities or crevices may be of anydesired shape. I however have shown conical cavities 4, 4, and straightgrooves 5, 5, and the number, position and size of these may be variedat pleasure. Two, three, four or more of these plates set together asshown in Fig. 3, are used to form my separator or amalgamator, and thewater is to be supplied in any convenient manner. When the crevices aresufiiciently full of metal the plates are to be lifted off and washedout, or may be partially washed out by a larger flow of water. Theplates may be separated a short distance, one from the other by suitableblocks or projections.

The quantity of water admitted to flow onto the upper plate, and thenceover the others, is to be regulated according to the character ofmaterial being operated on; and if a series of these plates be revolvedin the contrary direction to the flow of water the velocity of saidwater will be accelerated, and if in the same direction the velocitywill be retarded. The water in flowing over these plates in the circulardirection it travels in, has a tendency to accumulate more at theperiphery than at the center, to compensate which the plate should berather lower at the center than at the circumference. The size of theseplates a may be varied according to the purpose required.

I am aware that flat surfaces have been arranged one above the other ina circular form similar to a circular or spiral stair way: but I am notaware of any previous instance in which plates formed circularly and ofa gradual incline with cavities or recesses in the surface have everbefore been set together in pairs or several pairs, so that the waterafter traveling around the surface of each plate passes down to the nextone, and so on until the earthy mat- HORACE P. RUSS.

lVit-nesses LEMUEL IV. SERRELL, JAMES S. DIAOK,

